The X Factor

Congratulations to our award winners!

Dana Neuts — Sun, 19 May 2013 04:00:14 +0000

Congratulations to all of the outstanding award winners in the 2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest. This annual contest honors the very best in journalism in SPJ’s Region 10 which includes Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. This year’s contest covers work produced or published in 2012 within our region.

We received more than 1,900 entries from more than 260 news outlets and journalists representing Daily Newspapers (small, mid-sized and large dailies), Non-Daily Newspapers, Alternative Newsweeklies, Magazines, TV (two market sizes), Radio and Online.

Those entries were submitted to judges across the United States – Cincinnati, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas City and Missouri – to choose our finalists in almost 185 categories. Those winners were honored on Saturday, May 18 in ceremonies in Portland and Seattle. The William O. Douglas chapter will be presenting its awards on May 22.

Please join us in congratulating our winners!

–> 2012 SPJ NW Excellence in Journalism Contest Winners <–

Ian Marquand, Regional Director
Dana Neuts, National SPJ Secretary/Treasurer

P. S. For those who want to order duplicate awards or request corrections, we’ll post that info. next week.

Fellowship opportunity–but only for this weekend!

Ian Marquand — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:41:25 +0000

Sorry for the late notice on this; my fault.

-Ian Marquand

The European Union Center of Excellence is proud to present:

2013 EU-Northwest Journalist Fellowship:
Application deadline extended to May 19

The European Union Center of Excellence is pleased to announce an opportunity for Pacific Northwest journalists eager to learn about and report on current developments in the European Union.

Launched in 2009, the EU-Northwest Journalist Fellowship provides the selected print or broadcast journalist the opportunity to spend a week in Brussels, the European Union’s dynamic capital, learning about the EU and pressing issues affecting European integration and transatlantic relations. The program also affords journalists the chance for research and interviews for later print or broadcast.

Professional journalists from the US Pacific Northwest and Northern California are eligible to apply. Applicants should have at least three years’ experience in media, and must demonstrate how their reporting would benefit from exposure to the European Union. In addition to the above criteria, the selection committee will give preference to applicants who propose projects which highlight links between Europe and the Pacific Northwest, and who can demonstrate a greater likelihood of having their resulting reporting published or broadcast.

Applicants for the fellowship should submit a CV and cover letter/project proposal to the EU Center of Excellence no later than May 19, 2013. Applicants should also submit two examples of their work published or broadcast in the last two years. Application materials should be sent electronically to the EU Center of Excellence at euc@uw.edu or by mail to:

EU Center of Excellence
Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Box 353650
Seattle, WA 98195

The journalist for the fellowship will receive round-trip economy class airfare to Brussels, plus a living allowance of $2,000. Travel will be arranged by the EU Center of Excellence and the stay in Brussels must be started by August 31, 2013. The staff of the EU Center will provide the award recipient with travel and logistical advice for Brussels, while the EU Delegation in Washington can help arrange meetings with EU officials as requested.

Upon their return, awardees will be invited to give an informal talk to students at the University of Washington about their time in Brussels, what they learned, and how the experience has influenced their perspective on Europe and European integration.

Questions regarding the program can be directed to
Phil Shekleton or Eva Dunn at euc@uw.edu

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Our mailing address is:
euc@uw.edu

Our telephone:
206-616-2415

For more information about this and other EUC events, please visit our website:
http://jsis.washington.edu/euc/

Reg. 10 Contest Winners to be announced May 18

Dana Neuts — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:35:23 +0000

And the winner is…

All of the entries in the 2012 SPJ NW Excellence in Journalism Contest have been judged and the winners are in. Winners will be notified this week if they have won an award for their work. However, specific information – category and place – will not be given. That information will be announced on May 18 at awards galas in Seattle and Portland. If you are not attending one of the awards events, a complete list of winners will be posted here by 11:59 p.m. on Sat., May 18.

For more information about the events, please contact your local chapter:

Portland:

Sat., May 18, 6 p.m.
Hotel Lucia, catered by Imperial
Registration $55
Contact Christian Gaston for more info.

Seattle:

Sat., May 18, 5 – 7 p.m.
Seattle Renaissance Hotel
Contact SPJ W Washington Pro Chapter for more info.

Great spring conference!

Dana Neuts — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:24:43 +0000

Thanks to Pia Hallenberg of The Spokesman-Review, Mark Peterson of KXLY and the Inland Northwest Pro chapter of SPJ for hosting SPJ’s Region 10 spring conference in Spokane, Washington. If you weren’t able to attend or want to access some of the information shared during the event, please visit our Region 10 Spring Conference website. You’ll also find pictures, tips and more.

We also want to congratulate the Mark of Excellence Award winners. You can view a list of winners here —>2012 MOE Winners.

The 2014 Region 10 SPJ Spring Conference will be hosted by the Greater Oregon/SW Washington Pro Chapter. Stay tuned for details!

Want to learn more about SPJ training opportunities? Visit SPJ.org or join now to get training opps delivered to your inbox!

Two Days Left to Enter the Reg. 10 SPJ Journalism Contest

Dana Neuts — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:58:14 +0000

This is a friendly reminder that we are accepting submissions to the 2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest through Fri., Feb. 22, 2013 at 4:59 p.m. If you’ve already submitted entries, thank you! If you’ve been putting it off, please be sure to submit your entries by the deadline. There will not be another deadline extension.

Region 10 Contest Info.

Submit Entries Now

Have questions? Let us know. Our support team is ready to help: Ruth Pettis, Dana Neuts and Ian Marquand.*

*We know that journalists are well known for procrastination. We can appreciate that, but please keep in mind that we will receive hundreds of inquiries the last few days of the contest. To be sure we have time to answer your questions, please contact us sooner rather than later. Do not wait until Friday afternoon to ask your questions; we may not be able to address your concerns before the deadline. Thanks for your understanding!*

REGION 10 CONTEST NEWS–ENTRY DEADLINE EXTENDED!

Ian Marquand — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:33:22 +0000

The entry deadline for the 2012 Region 10 “Excellence in Journalism” contest has been extended to 4:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (5:59 p.m. Mountain time) on Friday, February 22. The original deadline was Feb. 15.

This will give entrants one more week to enter the contest. Still, please don’t wait until the last minute to enter.

Also, contest administrators discovered today that two Online categories–Photography (G 7) and Best Design (G 11)–had not shown up in the Omni contest system. They now show up so people can enter those categories.

To register and enter the contest, visit https://omnicontests4.com/?comp_id=1016

Time is Fleeting: The Contest, The Conference and The Calendar

Ian Marquand — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:42:27 +0000

To my fellow Region 10 SPJ members and leaders,

I confess to having a severe case of writer’s block in recent days (weeks?) when it’s come to SPJ. Don’t know why; maybe it’s because I’m self-conscious about writing things for writers, maybe I’ve been hesitant about perhaps saying the wrong thing. Or maybe the things I want to say seem so obvious as to be unnecessary:
Enter the regional contest!
Be a contest judge for another chapter that’s judging our entries!
Help with the regional conference!
Be active in your chapter and the national organization!

But apparently they need to be said–and said often. So I’ll try to shake off the blockage and write more. Specifically:

*We’re two weeks away from the deadline of the Region 10 contest. We need to make sure everyone who can/should enter it knows about it and has access to it. So help spread the word in your chapter. Chapter leaders–make sure all the news outlets and media associations know about it.
Let’s not forget that the contest is not only our way of recognizing excellence in journalism during the past year, but a major fund-raiser for all our chapters in Region 10. If it doesn’t succeed, we will have a harder path ahead.

*For our contest to work, we have to swap entries with other chapters. They judge our entries and we judge theirs. That means we need judges! I can promise you that every chapter in our region will participate in judging, meaning that, sooner or later, your chapter is going to receive a large batch of entries to judge. I suggest that it’s better to line up those judges now than try to beg people later. So talk it up among your chapter members and get names to me at marquand.im@gmail.com.

*Pia Hallenberg Christensen and her fellow SPJers in Spokane are shouldering the bulk of the early planning work for the April 12-13 regional conference. They need help with programming and event planning. They also will need volunteers to make the event flow smoothly. Pia’s in this Facebook group–tell her what you can do, who you can recruit, and what you can contribute in terms of resources–including financial support! Time is going to fly by and I don’t want the conference to be put together at the last minute.

More to come.
-ian

2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest Calls For Entries

Dana Neuts — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 03:18:05 +0000

HELENA, Mont., January 7, 2013 – Today Region 10 of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) announced its call for entries for the 2012 SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest. The contest honors exceptional journalism published or produced in 2012 in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Montana in all forms of media (print, online, radio, and TV). Both SPJ and non-SPJ members are invited to participate in the contest.

The SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest is officially accepting entries today through 4:59 pm (PST) on Fri., Feb. 15, 2013. SPJ Regional Director Ian Marquand, a freelance journalist in Helena, Mont., highlights several changes to this year’s contest:

- In Alternative Weeklies, the Criticism category was renamed Critiques and Reviews.
- In the Non-Daily Newspaper category, Portrait Photography was added.
- In Magazines, News Photography was eliminated.
- In the Online category, descriptions were added for clarification. In addition, Best Site, Commentary was eliminated.
- In Radio and Television, the General Excellence category was eliminated.
- In Television, for the purpose of clarification, Spot News Reporting is now Live Breaking News Coverage and Photojournalism is now Video Photography.

In the 2011 contest, approximately 2,000 entries in 200 categories were received from around the region. A similar number is anticipated this year. In late February, entries will be submitted to out-of-state journalists for judging, due back at the end of March. Winners’ notifications will be made in mid to late April.

The Western Washington Pro and Southwestern Washington/Oregon Pro SPJ chapters will present awards to those in their respective chapters at awards banquets in Seattle and Portland on Sat., May 18. The remaining awards will be announced online that evening and presented by their respective chapter leaders.

For more information about the contest or to begin submitting entries through Omni Solutions, please visit the contest entry portal at http://reg10spjcontest.com.

For questions, please contact contest administrator Ruth Pettis at ruthpettis10@gmail.com or 206-781-8097, or SPJ Secretary/Treasurer Dana Neuts at spjdana@gmail.com or 360-920-1737, or regional director Ian Marquand at marquand.im@gmail.com or 406-529-6494.

Contest Time is Just Around the Corner

Dana Neuts — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:41:49 +0000

Revised Jan. 7, 2013 (changes are noted in red) — On Jan. 7, 2013, we’ll open the call for entries in the 2012 Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest. Here is the timeline and key dates for you to be aware of.

Jan. 7, 2013: Entry forms and instructions posted. Entries can be submitted. All entries will be submitted electronically except General Excellence awards.

Feb. 15, 2013: Entry deadline. All entries must be submitted by 4:59 pm. (firm deadline)

Feb. 25, 2013: Entries to be sent electronically to our out-of-state judges. (All judging will be done online.) Ruth to mail General Excellence hard copy entries to judges.

Mar. 25, 2013: Judging deadline. All entries should be judged online by this date.

Apr. 22, 2013: Winners announced via email (names and organizations only; no places or categories will be given)

May 6, 2013: Verbal whisper campaign, if desired, by chapters hosting banquets.

May 18, 2013: Local chapters host awards events (contact your chapter for details)

Thank you and Happy Holidays from Region 10!

Ian Marquand & Dana Neuts

This Week in SPJ: Thinking About The Big Picture…and One Leader

Ian Marquand — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 01:48:37 +0000

Talk about an eventful seven days. One week ago, I participated in my first conference call meeting as Regional Director and a member of the national Board. In that meeting, the Board directed HQ staff to work toward an agreement with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists that would include NAHJ in the 2013 Excellence in Journalism conference in Anaheim. While I’m pleased that another journalism organization may be joining us at EIJ and creating even more critical mass of journalists, I’m especially happy that SPJ is taking the lead role in this collaboration. I want us to be the “go-to” organization for journalists and journalism entities.
Then, less than 72 hours later, I got another kind of news. Inland Northwest Chapter President Mark Peterson fell ill during a live shot for KXLY-TV in Spokane. It was a heart attack. My jaw literally fell open when I read the news.
Mark will be fine; I’m confident of that. In fact, he’s reported to be doing well at home and may even be at work within another week. But even as I celebrate SPJ’s success as an organization, I’m thinking of my SPJ comrade as he recovers. It’s a reminder to care for ourselves and each other even as we care for the organization and the profession.